Before I describe the flight, first, a bit about by hosts Longtail Aviation.

The company was started in August 1999 by Mark Byrne, chairman of Flagstone Re and a fully licensed pilot.

Mr. Byrne already owned a couple of aircraft and he decided to set up Island Aviation (an earlier form of Longtail Aviation) originally just to fly himself around.

Three years later he applied for an air operators' certificate and Longtail Aviation was formed as Bermuda's first and only executive charter aircraft company.

It is based in a former NATO hangar at the airport, which can house up to nine aircraft in its three hangar bays.

It operates a 12-passenger Falcon 900B, a six-passenger Westwind II, and a nine-passenger turbo prop King Air 350, all of which fly anywhere from Halifax, New York and Morristown, New Jersey, to the Bahamas and Grand Cayman. There is also a King Air 2000 which runs out of Europe.

Martin Amick, head of flight operations and chief pilot, explained the three parts of the business - private jet flights, brokerage work for other airlines and hangar storage.

"We have the hangar and we work with Bermuda Aviation Services and any other services that come here, we offer them the hangar facilities," he said.

"We belong to a network of partner operators and we work as a broker for them.

"If our aircraft are not available for charter hire, we have a strong network partnership with several US and European operators who we can rely on to service our clients' requests for aircraft.

"We work with C-Holdings, which is part of C-Travel, one of our preferred brokers, who are contracted by Longtail to market their services to the public and we work really well because they do a lot of the travel agency business in Bermuda and have a long list of perspective clients that Longtail take on."

About 70 percent of business for the private jet flights is Bermudian executives, primarily from the reinsurance and investment industries, while the rest is made up of holidaymakers who might be celebrating a birthday in New York or taking their wife away for a romantic trip to Atlantic City, and take up has been very good according to Mr. Amick. Of that 70 percent, 40 percent is public charter and the remainder is for Flagstone Re employees.

"It has gone very well," he said.

"This week, I think three of our aircraft are going to be used.

"We are getting a lot of requests from our clients about using the King Air because it is really cost effective.

"We have had a large demand in our aircraft and since I have been with the company it has been really steady."

On average, the Falcon costs $5,900 and the Westwind $2,900 an hour to hire.

"Our standards are exemplary because we are regulated by a European regulatory authority called Joint Aviation Requirements for Operations and we also have US operations specifications," said Mr. Amick.

"We have the license to be an airline and we run ourselves as if we were an airline.

"In the future, I see us growing and we'll probably manage more aircraft for more companies here in Bermuda - we already have the infrastructure in place now to do that.

"Longtail Aviation has the state-of-the-art Falcon 7X aircraft on order with Mystere Dassault that I scheduled for delivery by 2009. It is one of the most sophisticated large category aircraft in the industry and the first aircraft of its kind to be flown completely by wire. It has tremendous range and is built for journeys that circle the globe."

So, back to the flight - one of my pet hates about flying is the time spent hanging around waiting - often it can mean whiling away half a day in an airport lounge.

But, not so with a private jet - I turned up at the terminal and after signing my departure card was waved straight through to the plane.

The first feeling of celebrity status soon came. Sitting comfortably, coffee in hand and reading material at my side, I set about discovering all of the many gadgets right at my fingertips, complete with everything from sliding seat controls to collapsible table tops and even self-tinting windows if the sunlight gets too bright.

All of a sudden, I realised something was missing - where was the stress involved in fighting for the best seat? Or finding my overhead locker space taken by someone else's large and cumbersome bag? Or agitated stewardesses trying to ram trolleys down narrow aisles and screaming kids running amok?

Ah, the bliss of having a whole plane to do whatever I wanted. I could stretch out and relax, read a good book or even indulge in a bit of work if the need took me, what with a phone, wireless and electric socket facilities all at my disposal.

Breakfast awaited - croissant, iced pastry and bran muffin served with fresh fruit, orange juice and coffee.

My copy of The Royal Gazette read, I decided to engage my pilots, Butch and John, in a bit of conversation. We were cruising at about 350 mph 27,000 feet high. I then retreated to my seat for a quick 40 winks.

When I opened my eyes again we were over a big forest and I knew we must be almost there.

The landing was smooth. To ensure seamless transition from private jet to my awaiting transfer by executive car to my humble abode for the night, the pilots called customs to get a number. My baggage was carried through the terminal to rejoin me at the other end, all in the space of just under three hours door-to-door.